Distributed Storage

State-owned Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) has installed the first solar electric vehicle (EV) charging station in the upcoming network on Delhi-Chandigarh Highway.

The German powerhouse – which makes central inverters for PV projects in India – wants to complete the acquisition by July. Indian employees will be hoping target company Kaco’s disposal of its central inverter operation last month will avert job losses by removing any potential overlap between the manufacturers.

New Delhi based Urja Global will set up an integrated plant for electric vehicles and Lithium-ion batteries at an investment of Rs 200 crore. The announcement comes hot on the heels of US-based Tecchren Batteries’ Lithium-ion venture in the state.

The Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid) and Electric Vehicles (FAME) scheme with an outlay of Rs 10,000 crore over a period of three years will be implemented from April 1, 2019. It envisages setting up of about 2700 charging stations across the country so that at least one charging station is available in a grid of 3×3 km2.

Following Tamil Nadu’s plans to purchase 2000 electric buses, Karnataka aims to convert half the government vehicles in Bengaluru to electric by 2019 end. Further, Delhi has allocated Rs 100 crore to electric vehicles in its budget for 2019-20.

A new approach could extract carbon from polyethylenes in a cost-competitive way, that could be scaled up. Researchers have also performed electric testing with the extracted carbon and found it suitable for use as anodes in Li-ion batteries, among multiple other uses.

Given its ambitious goal of 175 GW renewable power by 2022 and push for electric mobility, the country presents a potential investment opportunity of $50 billion in battery storage facilities.

The PV system was launched recently by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), in partnership with STEAG Energy Services. It can provide 24-hour electricity even without grid connection, and is expected to generate around 10,000 kWh annually.

As India plans to set up large lithium-ion battery plants, the Lithium Triangle countries in South America (comprising Chile, Argentina and Bolivia) have offered to meet India’s growing demand for lithium.

“We urge the government to take swift action in launching the National Energy Storage Mission in order to support the development of an R&D and manufacturing ecosystem for energy storage and electric vehicles,” said Rahul Walawalkar, president of the India Energy Storage Alliance.